Author Archives: Natalie Banach

After fears for its future were raised earlier this fall, BruinGo! ““ the UCLA transportation program which allows students to ride the Big Blue Bus at a discounted price ““ will remain as part of a new agreement. The university’s contract with the local bus service expired last July, and as negotiations over the BruinGo! […]

When the first developers arrived in Westwood in the 1920s, their problems largely consisted of dealing with dust storms and rabbits. Today, a wider array of problems face Westwood developers, including stringent planning and construction limitations, rising real estate prices and sometimes disputes between property owners. For Jeff Katofsky and Barry Beitler, two developers and […]

Unoccupied and undeveloped, the storefront sandwiched between Star Chicken and Jerry’s Famous Deli has only a solitary sign announcing an intent to sell alcohol taped to its glass door. Yet despite its desolate appearance, the location on Weyburn Avenue has been the site of much debate and discussion between community leaders and developers for the […]

Waking many in the early hours of the morning, the 1994 Northridge earthquake violently shook the ground beneath the Southland, creating widespread destruction and tension. As freeways crumbled and hundreds became trapped under the rubble of their own homes, the 6.6 temblor led to shattered glass throughout the UCLA campus, fears that the iconic Royce […]

The number of students wearing UCLA gear today may be less than it has been any other Monday of this year’s football season, or at least that’s what sports fan psychologists might predict. The science of studying sports fans ““ whether they are the “full-body-paint-in-the-middle-of-winter” type or the “fair-weather” type ““ has revealed to psychologists […]

As pungent incense spiraled up into the evening sky, dancing UCLA students with painted faces celebrated the lives of their loved ones who have died. Every element of the event, from the incense ““ called “kopal” and native to Mexico ““ to faces half-painted in the image of skeletons, UCLA students and alumni celebrated Día […]

Correction appended To many, downtown is about the freeways and side streets, so congested that commuters have little left to do but collapse into a meditative state, contemplating the color of smog that day. To some it’s the smell of sugar condensing to form the opaque skulls known as calaveras, a predominant feature in downtown […]